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Assemblyman's Dalliances Were With Teen Intern, Maybe
By
Jen Chung
Published Aug 21, 2008
Modified Aug 21, 2008
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By
Jen Chung
Published Aug 21, 2008
Modified Aug 21, 2008
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The scandal around emails that Assemblyman Sam Hoyt (D-Buffalo) reportedly sent a colleague's teen intern is currently out of Assembly Leader Sheldon Silver's hands, as the Ethics Committee looks it over. However, the NY Times notes that accusations of sexual misconduct by lawmakers or staffers is "especially sensitive for Mr. Silver, who has faced criticism that he mishandled a 2001 complaint that his former chief of staff sexually assaulted an Assembly employee."
As for Hoyt himself, he has chosen not to speak out, per advice of the Ethics Committee, and has only confirmed that he cheated on his wife, but claims he did not break any laws. Which leaves the Post to detail the emails--first posted on PoliticsNY run by a conservative who does not like Hoyt's policies--like how he wished "that i could see you do that little cheerleader move... that i could be your human lollipop... that i could take a shower in your shower with all that girly stuff." Even the Times gets into the act, noting how another email, apparently from Hoyt, said he wished he could "be modeling my cool penguin boxers."
However, the Buffalo News reports that the women involved in affairs with Hoyt were not interns: "The information, which could exonerate Hoyt of legal or rule violations, came as an Assembly ethics committee with broad investigatory powers began a lightning-fast probe into the allegations against the eight-term assemblyman, just weeks before a crucial primary election."
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emails
ethics committee
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Sam Hoyt
sheldon silver
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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